{"id":221,"date":"2012-07-25T11:48:41","date_gmt":"2012-07-25T08:48:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.dknolte.com\/?p=221"},"modified":"2012-08-25T23:27:34","modified_gmt":"2012-08-25T20:27:34","slug":"frankfurt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dknolte.com\/?p=221","title":{"rendered":"Frankfurt"},"content":{"rendered":"

I<\/strong>\u2019m currently in Frankfurt Germany, the land of my ancestry, for training, and will be here for two weeks. For many years I kept a German 10 pfennig in my pocket to remind myself there are other places in the world than Pampa, Texas.\u00a0 I don\u2019t know what happened to that coin, but I have never forgotten what it represented.<\/p>\n

I will gain about 5 pounds while here; no probably 10.\u00a0 I\u2019m talking schnitzel, bratwurst and German beer.\u00a0 With a diet of pork every day, I would get very fat if I stayed too long.\u00a0 One associate told me, when he was posted here he gained 30 pounds.\u00a0 I believe it.\u00a0 The Germans themselves are an interesting lot.\u00a0 The adults don\u2019t yell when they speak among themselves like the Italians and Russians, but the younger ones are arrogant and noisy.\u00a0 The natives are tall and big boned compared to other parts of the world, and the older women are quite robust.<\/p>\n

The other night I sat having a salad at the nearest schnitzel house, when a stern German sat down at the other end of the table.\u00a0 His movements remind me of a robot.\u00a0 In staccato movements, he cut the meat, stabbed it with a fork, and placed the meat in his mouth then placed the fork down on the table while he chewed X number of times.\u00a0 Then repeated the process for ever bite.\u00a0 What\u2019s more, I sense they do this purposely, not just a habit.\u00a0 If I asked him why he ate that way, \u2026 well, \u2026.\u00a0 no telling what he might have said.<\/p>\n

\"\"\"\"My boss is here for training also, and Sunday we decided to go sight-seeing\u00a0 along the Main river where there are several large churches.\u00a0 We came across one with a tall steeple and bell tower that we could pay 3 Euros and climb the spiral staircase to the top.\u00a0 So we did.\u00a0 All 328 steps in a dizzying spiral.\u00a0 Up and then down.\u00a0 I had to stop a few times to suck air before continuing.<\/p>\n

It was amazing to see the sculpture of the building up close.\u00a0 If you look at the picture below, you will see one of the many gargoyles mounted on the building.\u00a0 Generally, gargoyles are used to hide the drain spouts.<\/p>\n

\"\"It was truly awesome to look up close to the tool marks from centuries ago, that the builders left on the edifice.\u00a0 I could see places they repaired the building, adding strapping where cracks were starting to form.<\/p>\n

When I first arrived in Frankfurt, from the moment the plane landed, it took 4 hours exactly to get to my hotel.\u00a0 I had a specific set of instructions posted by the hotel, on how to arrive to the premises.\u00a0 They really made sense, because I took the time to study the public transportation system before arriving.\u00a0 But as I realized, not everything is in English.\u00a0 It took about an hour wandering around the train station at the airport, to figure out how to buy a train ticket.\u00a0 I knew what train I needed, but the vending machine wanted to know my destination.\u00a0 And all the destinations are in German.\u00a0 No way to convert German names to English.\u00a0 Finally decided to get into a long line at a counter to see if the people behind the counter could help.\u00a0 Once I finally got the front and showed the gentlemen the info from the hotel, he said, No problem.\u00a0 He clicked here and there and then said, 4 Euros, 20, please, and handed me a ticket.\u00a0 I got on the train he pointed to.\u00a0 It traveled so many kilometers then stopped. I had to get off.\u00a0 Turned out I did not board the correct train and only ended up part way.\u00a0 Had to figure out which train I needed to take me the rest of the way.<\/p>\n

Using the old reliable Nolte intuition, I finally found where I needed to go and got to the next point I needed.\u00a0 Then I had to board either bus number 30, or tram number 18.\u00a0 The Nolte intuition failed me and I boarded bus number 18.\u00a0 Not bus 30.\u00a0 Not tram 18, but bus 18.\u00a0 By the time I realized something was wrong, I was about a half kilometer off the route I wanted.\u00a0 Grabbed my suitcase and jumped off at the next stop and walked back to the beginning. I did eventually arrived at the hotel and have since learned the peculiarities of the German system.\u00a0 I learned that tram 18, somehow turns to tram 12 while you are riding it.<\/p>\n

But the system is superb.\u00a0 You can get anywhere in the city without a vehicle.\u00a0 And the ticketing is just as unique.\u00a0 You buy a ticket for where you want to go at one of the many vending machines along the routes, then you board the bus\/tram\/train.\u00a0 No one verifies your ticket.\u00a0 It based on the honor system.\u00a0 They do have people who wander through the system stopping people and checking to see if you have your ticket.\u00a0 If not, its\u2019 a 40 Euro fine.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m sitting outside in front of the hotel as I work on this piece with the traffic passing by.\u00a0 Very different from Addis, as there is a smooth transition of the traffic.\u00a0 Compared to Addis, even with the traffic out here, it\u2019s serene.\u00a0 No hordes of pedestrians and no beasts of burden.\u00a0 No honking and no beggars.\u00a0 There are two sidewalks. \u00a0One for pedestrians and the other for bicycles.\u00a0 There are enough bicycle riders in the city, that it\u2019s best not to walk on their path.\u00a0 I have to keep watching over my shoulder to see if a cyclist is coming to avoid being in their way.\u00a0 But that\u2019s a good thing in my book.<\/p>\n

Just now, a friendly looking gentleman shuffled by with his cane, carrying his morning newspaper under his arm.<\/p>\n

Frankfurt does have its bizarre moments.\u00a0 Saturday, my boss and I went down by one of the metro stations to go through some of the stores in the area.\u00a0 When we arrived at the station, there was a gay pride parade passing through.\u00a0 Now I have seen some strange things in my life, but nothing like this.\u00a0 I have seen aspects of this on the Internet and the News, but never in person.\u00a0 Some of you will say, How cool!\u00a0 I\u2019d love to be there!\u00a0 Well, I beg to differ.\u00a0 When you see grown men wearing makeup and dancing around wearing nothing but ballet tutus, it\u2019s not awe inspiring.\u00a0 To make it worse, they all had lipstick all over them and not just their faces.\u00a0 Some of the women were dressed in very little, and some dressed like barbarians.\u00a0 There was a couple that looked like two bulldogs.\u00a0 These were just the tip of the iceberg of what was out there. \u00a0Luckily I did not have my camera with me.<\/p>\n

I didn\u2019t stay around and watch, but had to walk through the throng of these people and their supporters to get where we wanted to go.\u00a0 If these people have their lifestyles, so be it, but to flaunt it in a grand array just adds fire to those who find it detestable.\u00a0 And the gay community wonders why not everyone supports their way of life.<\/p>\n

Well, now I have a bad taste in my mouth.\u00a0 I\u2019ll upload this and then head to the Consulate for lunch.\u00a0 Today I do not have a class, so I have time to catch up on some writing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I\u2019m currently in Frankfurt Germany, the land of my ancestry, for training, and will be here for two weeks. For …<\/p>\n

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